Easel



Sept. 4, 1928. 1,682,837

1 A. w. ENGEL EASEL Filed April 15, 192'! v H @flegior fir z .7.

Aj ls 3471 5022138 li atented t,

rreo s'rA'rEs ALBERT "W. ENGEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

EASEL Application filed April 15, 1927.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a simple form of easel for a display card or picture which shall be economical to produce from a single sheet of material and adapted to be folded flat against the back of the picture when not in use. it consists oi certain features and elements of construction as here in shown and described and as indicated by the claim.

in the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of an easel embodying this invention shown applied to the back of a picture card and :telded flat against it.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the easel in the position of use.

As seen in Figure 1 the easel device is secured to the baclr of a card or picture 1 by means of two rectangular areas 2 and 3 which may be glued or otherwise fastened to the card 1 Two supporting wings 4r are adapted to be folded back along the lines t to extend rearwardly as shown in Figure 2 and when thus folded they are held in position by a brace member 5 which is swung down about the horizontal told line 5*. The easel device is constructed entirely from a single flat sheet of material and to permit the folding of the brace ineinber as described, it is partially severed from the sheet at lines 6, 'i", and 8 so that it remains attached only along the line 5. At each end of the line 8 the brace member is formed with a notch 10 by which it engages one of the wings l: as seen in Figure 9. tluch engagement o-ccurs at the intersection of the lines 6 and 'i in the wing, the line 7 being of the same length as the distance from one end of the line 5 to the bottom of the nearer notch 10. it Figure 1 this distance is indicated by a dotted line a. Since the line 6 is a straight line it constitutes the chord of the are through which the notch 10 swings as the brace member 5 is brought from vertical to horizontal Serial No. 183,935

position so that the material. of the brace 5 is required to flex yieldingly as the notches 10 are forced by the middle parts or the lines 6 in the wings i. In fact the brace 5 is only permitted to assume its normal flat form again when the notches 1O arrive at their lowest position in the corners formed at 11 by intersection of lines 6 and 7. Thus the brace member 5 is prevented from folding upwardly against the back of the card 1 unless it is intentionally forced to that position and the easel will remain in operative form as-shown in Figure 2. However owing to the fact that the entire structure is originally cut from a single flat sheet it may be conveniently folded fiat against the card 1 for storage or shipment.

I clai1n:-- v

In combination with a picture, card or the like, a supporting easel comprising a sheet of still material including upper and lower attachment areas secured to the back of the card with laterally disposed wing portions hingedly attached to said areas at substantially vertical axes, and thus adapted to swing back from the plane of the card; to-

gether with a brace member formed within the area of the sheet and hingedly joined thereto along a horizontal axis, the area utilized to form said brace extending into said wing portions and providing openings adjacent their hinge axes in which said brace may be swung outwardly from the back of the card, the outline of each of said openings opposite the hinge axis of the wing being substantially the cord of an arc centered in the hinge axis of the brace, while the length of sand brace from its huge axis to its point r of contact with the wing in operative position is equal to the radius of said are whereby the brace must be flexed in swinging it into operative position and is yieldingly locked therein.

ALBERT W. ENGEL. 

